It is part of being created in God's image that we desire beauty, wellness, justice, relationships and goodness. His supreme standard of abounding is set within our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We crave Him, yet we don't recognise Him. Instead, we seek Him through human need rather than spiritual understanding. His ways are so much higher than our fallen state. So much so, that we exhalt what has been humanly created, instead of the divine. We cannot comprehend His awesomeness.
Rest, soak and meditate. What does abounding mean for your life? We need to understand what it truly means for God to command a blessing. What it truly means to prosper in every way.
What does He have in store for you?
3 John 2:1 (NASB)
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
God desires we abound in all good things (2 Corinthians 9:8). Let everything our hands touch, be applicable for God to command a blessing over (Deuteronomy 28:8). When we establish ourselves in Him (Galatians 2:20), He is able to help us complete His plan for our lives (Ephesians 2:10) which goes way beyond anything we could ever hope or even imagine (Ephesians 3:20).
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ERV)
He hath made every thing beautiful in its time: also he hath set the world in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning even to the end.
2 Corinthians 9:8 (NKJV)
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Deuteronomy 28:8 (NKJV)
“The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
Galatians 2:20 (BLB)
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And that which I now live in the flesh, I live through faith from the Son of God, the One having loved me and having given up Himself for me.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 3:20 (LSB)
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us,
If that sounds costly, it's because it is, naturally speaking. In order to receive a full blessing, we need to release a full load of self. We're pretty attached to our selves, so it seems like such a sacrifice. Yet, that's only if we're thinking from a human perspective. When we transfer our thinking to God's divineness, we are able to see that what we're being asked to let go of are weaknesses that stunt our growth and falter our steps. Our old self can be made new. Why? Because He loves us and wants us to be near Him. He knows how much we need Him more than we know ourselves.